Rattan Ashok, Ahmad Hafiz
Advisor - Quality, Research and Development, Pathkind Labs, Gurgaon, Haryana, India.
Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, RAK College of Medical Sciences, RAK Medical and Health Sciences University; Molecular Microbiology and COVID Lab In-Charge, RAK Hospital, Ras Al Khaimah, UAE.
Indian J Med Microbiol. 2020 Jul-Dec;38(3 & 4):284-287. doi: 10.4103/ijmm.IJMM_20_380.
The emergence of SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), represents a public health emergency of unprecedented proportion. The global containment efforts have been focused on testing, tracing of contacts and treatment (isolation) of those found COVID-19 positive. Since the whole genome sequences of a number of strains of this novel RNA virus were available in the public domain by early January 2020, a number of real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) protocols were designed and used for diagnosis of this infection. Most RT-PCRs are designed for qualitative COVID-19 reporting (SARS-CoV-2 detected or not detected), but have been used for semi-quantitative estimation of viral load based on cycle threshold value. Our manuscript discusses the utility of quantitative PCR testing for COVID-19 and its patient management benefits.
2019冠状病毒病（COVID-19）的病原体严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2型（SARS-CoV-2）的出现，是一场前所未有的重大公共卫生突发事件。全球防控工作主要集中在检测、追踪密切接触者以及对COVID-19检测呈阳性者进行治疗（隔离）。自2020年1月初该新型RNA病毒的多个毒株的全基因组序列在公共领域可用以来，设计了多种实时聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）方案并用于诊断这种感染。大多数RT-PCR旨在进行COVID-19定性报告（检测到或未检测到SARS-CoV-2），但已基于循环阈值用于病毒载量的半定量估计。我们的论文讨论了COVID-19定量PCR检测的效用及其对患者管理的益处。
